BSC Baseball Team “Pitches In” to Help Bluefield First Church of the

More than 20 members of the Bluefield State College baseball team and Big Blues’ coach Geoff Hunter volunteered their services during a churchwide clean-up day at the Bluefield First Church of the Nazarine. The team’s members are pictured as they cleaned light fixtures, painted walls, and tackled other projects at the church.

(Bluefield)—For many students, Saturday mornings provide an opportunity to relax, grab an extra hour of sleep, and ease into the day. For the Bluefield State College baseball "Big Blues," last Saturday morning provided an opportunity to team up with the Bluefield (WV) First Church of the Nazarene to clean and repair the church's property.

More than 20 BSC baseball players and Coach Geoff Hunter invested their Saturday in cleaning the sanctuary, cleaning light fixtures and replacing light bulbs, painting walls in the Family Life Center, and sprucing up Sunday School rooms.

"I have been a pastor for 34 years at churches in five states, and I have never before seen college students come out and give so richly of their time in service to help a community of faith," observed The Reverend Gary Jakes, pastor of the church. "It was enriching and encouraging to see so many young men devoted to the task. They were polite and respectful and they really worked. I told them at lunch that they had blessed us with their presence and their willingness to help."

"We were honored to help Reverend Jakes and the good folks at the Bluefield First Church of the Nazarene," observed Geoff Hunter, BSC's baseball coach. "Jane Richardson from BSC communicated to Robert Haggerty, one of our student-athletes, that there was a need at the church that we might be able to help with. Although we haven't made a habit of advertising it over the years, our baseball program has a long history of community service."

"When Jane reached out to us, we were more than happy to 'step up to the plate' and lend a hand," the BSC coach continued. "Since we have always maintained our baseball field on campus, our kids are not afraid of a little work. The time we spent together that Saturday morning proved to be a great team-building event for us. We feel like we benefitted from the experience just as much as the First Church of the Nazarene did. We appreciate the opportunity to serve and would like to thank the congregation for feeding all of us after the chores were done."